Jul 24, 2008

malaysiainsider | ....The charges and counter-charges surrounding the sodomy investigation against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim are going to get more intense — and interesting.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the police are considering making public close-circuit television footage to show the treatment given to the Opposition leader when he was in detention at the KL police headquarters.

This move — the first time it has been done in recent history — could happen within the next 48 hours and is aimed at challenging the position put forward by Anwar that he was treated badly during his overnight detention on July 16. It is also part of an attempt by the administration to appease critics who have been calling for more transparency in the police investigations into the sodomy charge against the former deputy prime minister.

His former aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, lodged a police report on June 28 alleging that he was sodomised by Anwar on June 26 in a condominium in Damansara. The Opposition icon was arrested outside his home in Segambut and heavily escorted to the KL police headquarters.

He alleged that he was treated like a major criminal and had to sleep on the cement floor, relying on a towel his wife brought as a mattress.

Police investigators have defended their actions, saying that certain rules were bent to allow him to have complete access to his lawyers and family members.

They also noted that every attempt was made to ensure that there was no repeat of 1998. Ten years ago, Anwar was arrested under the Internal Security Act after leading a demonstration following his sacking from government by the then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.... selanjutnya.